890E.00/329: Telegram
The American Representative to the French Committee of National Liberation (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 29—10:52 p.m.]
265. The Commissariat for Information issued an official press release yesterday stating that at the close of the conference at Damascus on the Lebanon-Syrian situation the following declaration was adopted:
“Agreement was reached today between General Catroux, Commissioner of State en mission, and the representatives of the Lebanese and Syrian Governments, for the return to these Governments of the powers exercised in their name by the French authorities. By virtue of this agreement, the jointly administered services with their personnel will be handed over to the two states Syrian and Lebanese with the right to make laws and legislate, beginning January 1, 1944.”
The press release also stated that the decisions contained in the above declaration had no bearing on the juridical aspect of the mandate.
Repeated to Beirut and Cairo.